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Couple used a puppy to lure two Amish sisters to a car, according to the sheriff's department

Couple was on a "shopping trip" to turn the girls into "slaves," says a sheriff's detective

Girls were chained and sexually abused while in captivity

Stephen Howells II, 39, and Nicole Vaisey, 25, are being held without bail

A puppy was used to lure two Amish girls into a car in upstate New York, with the captors plotting to enslave the sisters, authorities said.

Nicole Vaisey, 25, told investigators that she and her boyfriend, Stephen Howells II, 39, were on a "shopping trip" for "slaves" when they allegedly kidnapped the girls, according to a detective.

The girls were picked up at a vegetable stand outside the sisters' family farm about 50 miles from the Canadian border on August 13.

New details about the abduction in Oswegatchie emerged during a preliminary hearing in St. Lawrence County on Thursday. Detective Sgt. Brooks Bigwarfe detailed the couples' alleged plan and kidnapping of the girls, as related to him by Vaisey.

"They had been planning this for several weeks," Bigwarfe said.

Howells and Vaisey drove to the farm, pulled up to the stand in a location where they couldn't be seen, and waited for the girls -- ages 6 and 12 -- to approach the car, Bigwarfe said. Howells allegedly scoped out the stand the previous week.

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Howells asked the girls whether they wanted to pet the dog, a Doberman pinscher-golden retriever mix named Kaleidoscope, police said. When the older sister grew suspicious, Bigwarfe said, Howells pushed the girls into the back of the car.

"When he started forcing them into the vehicle, they were both screaming and yelling," Bigwarfe said.

The girls were held captive for nearly 24 hours, during which they were handcuffed together, shackled to a bed and sexually abused,according to the sheriff's department.